COLUMN: Our accomplishments are many; there is still more to do

Published: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 08:59 PM.

As a member of the General Assembly of North Carolina, I am pleased with many of our accomplishments in 2011-12.

We passed Laura’s Law and cracked down on habitual and violent criminals, child molesters and illegal aliens. Laura’s Law severely increases penalties and prison time for habitual drunk drivers.

We overrode the governor’s veto and passed a bipartisan state budget in a timely manner; we cut taxes by about $1.5 billion, capped the gas tax and cut wasteful government spending. Citizens of North Carolina will realize these tax cuts.

Though we faced a multi-billion dollar shortfall and did not receive billions of dollars of “stimulus funds” from the federal government — the previous General Assembly received these taxpayer funds — we made common-sense choices by funding education in the classroom, not the bureaucracy in Raleigh.

We helped reduce class sizes in the early grades and appropriated money to fully fund retirement and a slight pay increase. We appropriated funds for liability insurance for teachers and other school personnel; many teachers can now save hundreds of dollars per year by not having to join an association affiliated with a labor union.

We eliminated many standardized tests and allocated more funds to help counties with construction, renovations and technology upgrades. We did not pass responsibility down to the counties for school buses, tort claims or workers’ compensation claims; we did not want county commissioners to raise property taxes.

We fought for jobs by protecting our right-to-work status, cutting taxes and passing worker’s compensation, regulatory and tort reform. We took the pay-to-play aspects out of transportation funding and focused on safety, mobility and logistics. We passed Career and College Promise, which will consolidate and improve the option for high school students to work toward a career skill or college degree while in high school; this will greatly enhance our workforce.

As a member of the General Assembly of North Carolina, I am pleased with many of our accomplishments in 2011-12.

We passed Laura’s Law and cracked down on habitual and violent criminals, child molesters and illegal aliens. Laura’s Law severely increases penalties and prison time for habitual drunk drivers.

We overrode the governor’s veto and passed a bipartisan state budget in a timely manner; we cut taxes by about $1.5 billion, capped the gas tax and cut wasteful government spending. Citizens of North Carolina will realize these tax cuts.

Though we faced a multi-billion dollar shortfall and did not receive billions of dollars of “stimulus funds” from the federal government — the previous General Assembly received these taxpayer funds — we made common-sense choices by funding education in the classroom, not the bureaucracy in Raleigh.

We helped reduce class sizes in the early grades and appropriated money to fully fund retirement and a slight pay increase. We appropriated funds for liability insurance for teachers and other school personnel; many teachers can now save hundreds of dollars per year by not having to join an association affiliated with a labor union.

We eliminated many standardized tests and allocated more funds to help counties with construction, renovations and technology upgrades. We did not pass responsibility down to the counties for school buses, tort claims or workers’ compensation claims; we did not want county commissioners to raise property taxes.

We fought for jobs by protecting our right-to-work status, cutting taxes and passing worker’s compensation, regulatory and tort reform. We took the pay-to-play aspects out of transportation funding and focused on safety, mobility and logistics. We passed Career and College Promise, which will consolidate and improve the option for high school students to work toward a career skill or college degree while in high school; this will greatly enhance our workforce.

We voted to restore confidence in government and passed a voter photo ID bill; the governor vetoed the bill, and we did not have the votes to override her veto. Our bill appropriated the money to pay for IDs; we kept a provisional ballot measure alive so people would not be disenfranchised.

It is important to point out that there are numerous cases of voter fraud in North Carolina; criminal cases involve voting by felons and illegally voting twice. I hope voter photo IDs are required in the near future.

I could not mention all of our accomplishments in this letter and we have more to do. It is an honor to serve the people of Cleveland and Gaston counties and North Carolina. If re-elected, I plan to continue to fight for jobs, enhance public health and safety, fund education in the classroom and restore confidence in government. I would appreciate your vote of confidence.

Rep. Hastings represents the 110 th District in the N.C. General Assembly.